Acacia

A Novel

Ruling from his palace on the idyllic island of Acacia, the emperor of the Known World, has inherited generations of peace and prosperity established by his ancestors. He's an intelligent man, a widower who dotes on his four children and it is this devotion that obliges him to hide a terrible secret.

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I really like this author's historical fiction novels. This wasn't bad, but nothing very original, another Game of Thrones knock off. The ending wasn't great, and it sort of makes obvious what is going to happen next, but I'm hoping it gets better. Will try book two anyhow. Not a bad read if you like fantasy, otherwise you might not like it a lot.

I really had to force myself to complete this book. Certain parts of the story were interesting enough to keep me going, but not at a breakneck pace by any means. Similar to George Martin in that the tale is told largely through the eyes of orphaned kids. Where Durham fails horribly though is with his character development.

This book was rough at first and I almost gave up. After this though I thought it was a very good book, then I got to the ending. I won't spoil it but it annoyed me enough not to read the other two books.

The first book of a fantasy epic, and a decent, but not excellent, beginning. The author falls short on depth and detail of the imagined world and, more importantly, on making us care about his characters. The story proceeds quite predictably until the very end, and even then the one or two slight twists are awaited and insufficiently dramatic.